Sachin carried his school books to England: Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev recalled how a 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar carried his school books on his first tour of England in 1990.

It was on that tour that Tendulkar scored his first Test century and the world sat and took note of a young batting prodigy.

"He (Tendulkar) was very quiet. On that first tour he was carrying his school books to study in tenth grade. He was shy, did not talk too much and he was just a normal kid. He did not involve himself in topics. He used to observe," said Kapil.

Tendulkar, from a very early age showed that he was marked for greatness and Kapil, who had led India to their first World Cup title only seven years before in 1983, saw the spark.

"Two thing were very different about him at that age. His balance was so good... Unbelievable. And he did not hit the ball. He pushed the ball. He had a heavy bat. During that period I had never seen someone using that heavy a bat and he held the bat low down," Kapil told the BBC Radio 5 Live show.

Kapil was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after Tendulkar on tour and he noticed with amazement the ambidextrous skills of the youngster.

"Sachin used his left hand to write and eat. But he batted and bowled right handed. Later on I realised he must be a genius who has power in both hands. That is the future of cricket. If you can have balanced power you can control the ball and balance of your body."

Kapil recalled the first time he watched Tendulkar bat in a domestic match. "The first time I saw him bat was at Brabourne Stadium (in Mumbai) and I was asked to bowl at him. I was told he would get encouragement from it. I said 'who is he?' and was told he had done well in school cricket and to just bowl a few balls," recollected Kapil.

"He looked like a 14 year-old. He played with decent balance and I was very nervous to bowl to him. He was too young for me to bowl to. I bowled a couple of quick ones. He flicked them off and in the net you could see he looked good at that age. His ability was there but I could not dream this young boy would be one of the finest cricketers to walk this earth."